Atari and Retro Games announce THE 800XL, a full-size Atari 8-bit for $219.99
by The RetroMake desk 26 October 2026
Announced on 8 October, the recreation of Atari's 1983 home computer has a mechanical keyboard, Atari BASIC, a working cartridge slot, HDMI and 25 built-in games. Pre-orders are open; the companies say shipping begins on 23 April 2027.
What we know
- Atari announced THE 800XL on 8 October 2026; it is designed by Retro Games Ltd and manufactured and distributed by PLAION REPLAI.
- Pre-orders opened at $219.99, GBP 199.99, EUR 219.99 and AUD 349.99, with shipping stated to begin on 23 April 2027.
- The machine has a full-size mechanical keyboard, built-in Atari BASIC, a working cartridge slot, HDMI output at 50 or 60 Hz and four USB-A ports.
- It runs Atari 400, 800, XL, XE and 5200 software from cartridges or USB images, and ships with 25 built-in games plus two hidden ones.
- Every game gets four save slots and up to 30 seconds of rewind, according to the announcement.
Atari announced THE 800XL on 8 October 2026, a full-size recreation of its 1983 Atari 800XL home computer, designed by Retro Games Ltd and manufactured and distributed by PLAION REPLAI. Pre-orders opened the same day at $219.99, GBP 199.99, EUR 219.99 and AUD 349.99. The companies say shipping begins on 23 April 2027.
The announcement calls it "a computer to experiment with as much as a machine to play games on". It lists a full-size mechanical keyboard, Atari BASIC built in and a working cartridge slot, and says programs can be written, saved and loaded. Software for the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE computers runs from cartridges or from cartridge, disk and cassette images on a USB flash drive. So do games for the Atari 5200 console.
Modern additions
Video goes out over HDMI at 50 Hz for PAL or 60 Hz for NTSC, with 4:3 and pixel-perfect modes and optional CRT filters. Four USB-A ports take controllers and storage. Every game, whether built in, side-loaded or on a cartridge, gets four save slots and up to 30 seconds of rewind.
In the box are THECXSTICK, Retro Games' recreation of the Atari joystick with the classic fire button plus seven more action and function buttons, an HDMI cable, a quick guide and a USB-A to USB-C cable for power. The contents list does not include a mains adapter.
The announcement does not describe the internal hardware or say how the original Atari chips are reproduced.
The built-in games
There are 25 licensed games on the carousel, eight from Atari and 17 from third parties. They include Asteroids, BattleZone, Berzerk, Boulder Dash, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Encounter, Hover Bovver, M.U.L.E., Miner 2049er, Missile Command, The Seven Cities of Gold and Star Raiders II. Two more, Castle Crisis and Super Breakout, are hidden and appear when an analogue controller is connected.
Who is making it
Retro Games, the British company behind THEC64, THEVIC20, THEA500 Mini and The Spectrum, has made one Atari machine before: THE400 Mini, a small-scale version of the 1979 Atari 400 that it announced on 1 January 2024 for release on 28 March that year. VGC noted that the company usually releases a mini first and a full-size machine with a working keyboard later, and that this full-size machine is a different model from the mini. PLAION is also the company behind the forthcoming Neo Geo AES+, according to Time Extension.
"When recreating it, we wanted to capture not just how the original looked, but what made it such a compelling computer," said Stuart Chiplin, chief operating officer of Retro Games. Matt Burnett, Atari's vice president of strategic operations, said that the mix of a computer people could learn on and a large catalogue of games made the 800XL "such an important part of Atari's legacy".